White Fear.

Just in the last few days, I’ve written about the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords in New York City, and the Brown Berets – all groups that fought for justice and against systematic oppression particularly during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. These groups did a lot of great work in their own communities through programs like free breakfast for school children and free clinics but also worked with each other on various issues and protested issues like police brutality. But unfortunately, many of the issues they addressed then continue to be issues now. I’d argue that a big reason for this is white supremacy and white fear more than anything else.

“White fear blinds us to the humanity of the people right in front of us.” –@ESGlaude

We could sit and cry that not all white people are like this but that’s not the point. Nor would that actually accomplish anything other than alleviating white guilt. Not only are enough white people exactly like this but we benefit from this collective fear whether we want to or not. And we have just as much of a part to dismantle this fear and resulting systems.

Yes – there are white people who live in poverty, who’ve been thrown out because they’re queer, who are disabled or have physically issues, who struggle with other issues or some combination of the above. That is definitely true and something I won’t argue with because no one lives in a single issue life. As white people, our whiteness doesn’t erase our other struggles but our whiteness does buy us a certain amount of privilege and power that people of color don’t have access too and that’s important to acknowledge.